January 16, 2008

Netflix subscribers get unlimited pc viewing.

http://netflix.com sent out emails to their customers who are subscribed to any plan greater than the 2 at a time for $4.99 deal, to let them know they now have unlimited on line pc viewing.

The pc viewing used to be based on what you paid, so if your plan was $16.99 a month, you had 17 hours of instant watch movie time available to you.
This new plan means you get unlimited hours of movie watching on your computer, and that is so awesome for people like me who can go through my mailed movies very quickly, and then have to wait for my next shipment.

This was done after the news that Apple iTunes movie rentals would start in February.
Steve Jobs says they currently have about 1,000 movie titles for users to buy and download.
iTunes store is a very direct competitor to Amazon Unbox, while iTunes and Netflix Watch It Now play to very different segments of the audience. Apple offers up mostly new releases, available 30 days after the DVD release, and you have to pay up before you can play. There's no subscription fee, though.

Netflix currently has over 6,000 watch it now titles available for instant viewing, and are adding more every day.

Surprisingly, Netflix and Blockbuster stock shares fell after the announcement from Apple.
Blockbuster shares tumbled 14% to $2.79 on volume of over 9 million. The issue's 30-day average volume is about 4.4 million shares. The stock hit a new 52-week low of $2.74 intraday.

Shares of Netflix fell 5.4% to $21.55 on volume of over 4 million. The issue's 30-day average volume is about 1.5 million.
But analysts say it's nothing to worry about as Apples iTunes movies will be more for people on the go, using their ipods to watch movies on their commute, and not watching them at home.